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SIR – After a decade in which hundreds of British servicemen have died in two entirely unnecessary wars, and with the Middle East in flames, he wants us to do it again. Will Tony Blair never accept that he could have been wrong?

Lady Coward Torpoint, Cornwall

SIR – Saddam and his minions slaughtered hundreds of thousands of their own people. Most of the survivors of his systematic sectarian genocide were delighted to see him hang.

Sir Gavin Gilbey Bt Dornoch, Sutherland

SIR – Those in the Foreign Office and intelligence agencies who opposed the Iraq War in 2003 will not be surprised at events in Iraq, and the potentially disastrous effect they will have on the stability of the Middle East, not to mention the security of Western nations. I write as a former counsellor, serving in the FCO from 1980 to 2008.

While Saddam Hussain was undoubtedly an appalling leader, he posed no threat to Britain and, by opposing groups such as al-Qaeda, actually contributed to Western security. It is the duty of our Government to act in the interests of its own people first, even if this means dealing with regimes we regard as abhorrent. After all, we have good relations with some dreadful governments round the world. And in 1941 we were allied with Stalinist Russia to help defeat the even more awful Nazi Germany.

By removing Saddam with no proper justification or internationally lawful authority, and then failing to construct a stable Iraqi successor-state, we have put our interests and security at great risk.

We have also ensured that the lives of Iraqis in general are today just as bad, if not worse, than they were under Saddam.

Paul Laing Dereham, Norfolk

SIR – The crisis in the Middle East reminds one of the Crusades. Then we were selling Christianity, now it is democracy, but I fear the outcome will be the same.